Water, water, everywhere

Nor any drop to drink, thanks to a plumbing malfunction. It's rained relentlessly today, just as a pessimist might expect in the south of France in June. The dogs and I had trailed in huge amounts of mud and grit, so I set to cleaning the floors throughout the house. For a while I shut the dogs in the skulldoggery (the scullery where the dogs live) to stop them trailing over my cleaned floor.

I thought I heard them barking - but it wasn't them. The noise was coming from the basement. When I got there horrendous noises were coming from our brand-spanking-new hot water heating system and water was gushing over the floor. I turned everything off - the boiler, the heat exchanger and the mains water.

So now I have no water in the taps or loos. I don't care about no heating - it's not cold. But I shall care come shower time, and it's amazing just how often one uses water in a normally functioning house.

Oh dear, a call to the plumbers in the morning. They're going to love that.

PS Phoned the wonderful M Xavier Martin, the plumber boss, at 7.50am. He arrived at 8.30. It's now 9.15 and everything's fine again. Major air in the system from when the water board repaired a leak in the road. Welcome to a brand new day.